


Was it Something I Said?

by madeleone



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 2019 hogwarts ldws, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-31
Updated: 2019-08-31
Packaged: 2020-10-07 21:44:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20465072
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madeleone/pseuds/madeleone
Summary: An unusual delivery arrives at Hogwarts for Neville.Written for round one of the 2019 hogwarts_ldws at livejournal





	Was it Something I Said?

**Author's Note:**

> I recently participated in Hogwarts_LDWS fest at LiveJournal. Huge thanks go out to Too_dle_oo for organizing this fest and to Toblass for coming up with the prompts.
> 
> This was a fun little fest that involved writing a drabble each week to a specific prompt and an exact length (which both varied each week). Each week votes were cast and some writers eliminated. To my surprise, I managed to make it all the way to the final round and came in second. I will be posting my five drabbles for this challenge in order. 
> 
> The first week's prompt was: An unexpected guest shows up at Hogwarts  
Prompt count: exactly 300 words  
ETA: I noticed that AO3's word counts differ from what was required for the fest. For the sake of continuity and fairness Hogwarts_LDWS asked all participants to run their drabbles through a specific word counter here at https://www.wordcounttool.com
> 
> Note: all of the drabbles throughout the fest were great. If you want to check them out go to hogwarts_ldws: https://hogwarts-ldws.livejournal.com/

Was it Something I Said?

Hermione paced nervously, trying to determine how to explain the situation to her husband. A difficult task, indeed, since she didn't fully understand it herself. Pulling the cover over the top of the basket, she knocked on the Headmaster's door.

Severus looked up, one corner of his mouth tipping up upon seeing his wife.

Hermione carefully set her burden down on a chair. “I'm sorry to disturb you, love. But it seems we have a bit of a problem.”

His half smile turned into a frown. “Oh, what's that?”

“There's a delivery for Neville, but I can't find him anywhere.”

Severus relaxed visibly. “No problem. Have one of the house-elves take it to the greenhouse.”

With a grimace and shake of her head, she replied. “It's a rather... unusual... delivery. Not something that can safely be left unattended.”

Trusting her judgment, he called a house-elf to locate Longbottom and return him to Hogwarts. Soon, a knock came on the door.

“Severus?” Neville entered. “What's going on? Tiki implied there's some sort of emergency.”

“I'm not sure myself, but I expect Hermione is going to enlighten us.” Severus looked sternly at his wife.

“Of course...” Hermione reached for the bundle but was interrupted by a high pitched squeal.

“Sweet Circe! Is that a baby Mandrake? Cover your ears!” Severus drew his wand, but Hermione waved him off.

“No need, dear. It's not a Mandrake.” Lifting the bundle gently, she turned. “But you are half right. It is a baby.

“I apologize, Neville. I wasn't trying to pry, but I didn't know what else to do.” She handed him the note she'd opened. “According to this, she's yours.”

Neville gulped, eyes rolling back in his head, he slumped bonelessly to the floor.

She turned to Severus. “Do you think it was something I said?”


End file.
